Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

The Demography of KarameikosThe Callarii are in good standing withKarameikos’ humans and with the country’sgovernment. The clanmasters signed a treatywith the Grand Duke some thirty years ago, inwhich they agreed to send a number of theirwarriors to Specularum to serve as the eliteElvenguard of the Grand Duke, whilereceiving full acknowledgment of theirautonomy by Stefan Karameikos. Since then,about two hundred Callarii elves and theirimmediate relatives now live in Specularum.A number of other Callarii elves also livescattered among human settlements, andelven rangers, adventurers, and sometimesbandits can be found wandering theborderlands of the Grand Duchy.Of the 10,900 or so Callarii who live inKarameikos, about 7,800 live in the RadlebbWoods, where many of their tree-villages arefound. In the eastern half of the woods, elvendensities reach an average 7 people persquare mile, while in the western half theaverage lowers from 4 people to 1 people persquare mile. The elves avoid entirely theforest near the cursed lands of Koriszegy.About 900 wood elves are found in thewesternmost part of the Dymrak Forest,nearer to the Barony of Kelvin; populationdensity there averages 2.5 people per squaremile. Elven holdings in the forested hillssouth of Highforge, where about 650 woodelves live, average 4 people per square mile.Another about 750 wood elves live scatteredin small settlements outside the main elvenlands – like the Hantu Valley east of theDuke’s Road, which houses around 500 ofthem – or wandering in the wilderness. Theremaining 800 or so wood elves live in thehuman settlements (mainly Threshold, Luln,and Specularum).A second group is that of the Vyalia clans(40% of the total elven population), whobelong to the fair elf stock. They inhabit theeastern parts of the Dymrak Forest, beyondthe Rugalov River and to the south-east ofthe Lake of Lost Dreams. There are about7,500 of them, with an average populationdensity of 3.7 people per square mile –lower in western areas nearer to the RugalovRiver, higher in the forest near the Thyatianborder. The Karameikans tend to considerthe Vyalia a more reserved and mysteriouslot than the Callarii, even if it is known thatthey are in good standing with the ThyatianEmpire. All the Vyalia clans pledge fealty tothe Greenheight clanmaster, who rules fromGreenheight town (in the County of Vyalia,Thyatis) and holds the rank of Count in theimperial hierarchy. The Thyatian County ofVyalia includes only the small eastern part ofthe forest inhabited by the Vyalia, aroundthe Kerenda River; the rest, up to theRugalov River, while nominally under thecontrol of Karameikos, is effectivelyuncontrolled by the Grand Duke. The Vyaliaclans consider the whole lands from RugalovRiver to Kerenda River theirs, and they roamit freely. The percentage of Vyalia elvesshown here only takes into account the clanswho inhabit the areas of the Dymrak Forestwhich are found within the nominal bordersof Karameikos – the whole Vyaliapopulation, including the elves who dwellwithin Thyatian borders, amounts to nearly20,000 elves.A lonely clan of fair elves, the Lindenelm,lives in the eastern half of the AchelosWoods (1% of total elven population).Lindenelm elves are the last remnants of themercenary clans that sided with a Taymorannecromancer-king after civil war erupted inthat realm thousands of years ago. The18THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1